This is your personal invitation to share your views on JJA’s
educational initiatives – past, present, and future. Watching JJA grow,
I have been taking particular pleasure in seeing the various educational
efforts take wing, all spearheaded by industrious individuals in
multiple locations. Jazz Matters in New York (Lois Gilbert), workshops
at IAJE (Dan Ouelette & Paul de Barros), the Atkins Fellows (Willard
Jenkins), panels in Tanglewood, Newport, Amherst, Boston, Chicago, and
elsewhere (Toni Ballard, Jon Hammond, Art Lange, Dawn Singh, Cheryl K.
Symister-Masterson, and others)… One day I asked Howard, who has been
shepherding all of this and more, does JJA had a codified education plan?
Actually, I asked him several questions including: Who are we educating
-- writers, audiences, musicians? Can we use models of our successes and
replicate those events in other locations without reinventing the wheel
every time? Have you considered setting up a curriculum for aspiring
jazz writers and making it available to teachers, much in the same way
that The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz and Jazz at Lincoln Center
have done? Do you have any plans for an online training/mentoring program?
Howard responded with a question of his own: How would you like to be
the JJA Minister of Education?
I have lots of ideas, and years of teaching experience, but only two
hands. My immediate goals are two-fold: 1) we need a committee of
members interested in crafting the educational platform for JJA. You
need not reside in New York (or Los Angeles, where I am), and you need
not have hours of free time (none of us do); and 2) We need to create a
list of members who would be willing to teach classes, lead writing
workshops, and mentor aspiring writers.
If you are interested in participating on the educational front, even if
it is only to voice an opinion, please contact me via email
(devra at lushlife.com). If you're ready to roll up your sleeves, even on a
limited basis, please specify your areas of interest and expertise.
(Including your CV or resume is encouraged). I hope to hear from all of
you.
Devra Hall